Puri’s own collection boasts of a 100 paintings. Renting out his art occurred to him when at an art fair held at Chinmay Mission at Lodhi Road last year, he interacted with customers and figured out their preferences about colour, sizes and large prints. He then outsourced work from 12 collectors and has also made an extensive list of 112 emerging artists who rent out their works. “For Rs 100, an artist can sign up for a yearly membership and get returns on his art,” he says.

The time span varies from three months to six months, to a year. “The customer has the flexibility to change the work thrice and even own it at the end of the year after paying the full price,” explains Puri. But, the price tag is quite forbidding. A one-by-one canvas of Husain, costs Rs 5000 a month. The paintings are graded and the rental price is determined by the availability of work with the collector. And of course, the greater the artist the more expensive it is to rent his works. The lowest price for 3 months is Rs 500. The A-grade list consists of Raza, Souza, Husain and Choudhary while emerging artists like Ramesh Rana and Kusum Jain fall into the B-category, then there are the artists who’s works are priced at under a lakh. Puri, gets 20 per cent on each package.

As for maintenance, Puri agrees he has learnt from past mistakes. “The first time we rented a package, we did not insure. But now there is a penalty clause which says the customer is liable to pay full price. If the customer demurs, we get the paintings insured,” says Puri. But the 12 A-grade artist are definitely insured, he adds.